


All That's Left

by LacePendragon



Category: RWBY
Genre: Angst, Friendship, Gen, Ignores the Upcoming Book, Post V3
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-10-31
Updated: 2018-10-31
Packaged: 2019-08-13 21:24:00
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,977
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/16480010
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/LacePendragon/pseuds/LacePendragon
Summary: There was one last conversation to be had before Team CFVY could walk away from the battle of Beacon. But the outcome isn’t what any of them expected, or wanted.





	All That's Left

**Author's Note:**

> Originally written March 19th, 2017. Reposted October 31st, 2018. Happy Halloween.

It had taken hours before Team CFVY found themselves back together after the battle for Beacon. Vale was fallen, the docks were full, and the Grimm dragon was frozen atop the shattered Beacon Academy tower. Coco still wasn’t sure how that had happened. She remembered a silver flash, a scream, and then the dragon had frozen atop the tower.

Now, ships ferried people out of the fallen kingdom while soldiers – real, human and faunus soldiers – stood guard against what was left of the Grimm. There were other ships, hanging back at another dock, taking the bodies out of the city.

There weren’t enough body bags, Coco had heard one of the soldiers saying.

They had to make a call for more.

Amidst the crowds of people trying to get back home, Coco watched for the rest of her team. She refused to leave Vale before she knew they were alive and safe. Even if she had to get her own damn ship out of Vale, she refused to leave, just yet.

Velvet was easy enough to spot, her ears making her taller than most, even when she slouched, and Coco managed to grab Velvet before she could be ferried into a ship. She grabbed Velvet by the arm, flashed a smile at Velvet once the other girl had caught sight of her, and nodded toward another line.

She swore she’d seen Fox and Yatsu in a line off in that direction, but it was hard to tell. Her sunglasses, prescription, were gone, and her glasses were in her dorm room. Presuming her dorm room even existed anymore.

“Fox! Yatsu!” called Coco. Despite the chaos of noise around them, the two seemed to hear her. Yatsu took Fox’s hand and pulled him toward the two, waving with his other. It was bandaged, his sword pommel was cracked. Coco swallowed and tried not to think about it.

They were all alive. That was what was important. Everything else, and everyone else, could damn well wait.

Her fear was a tangible thing, dancing alongside her exhaustion, deep in her veins, but the exhaustion ran deeper, so the fear didn’t show.

“Fox,” called Coco, as the two got close. He held out his hand to Coco and she laced their fingers together, pulling her three teammates away from the crowds and away from the panic, to a quieter spot in the corner of the docks.

Once they were all stopped, Coco released their hands and turned to face them all. “Are you all okay?” asked Coco, looking them up and down. Fox nodded and Yatsu rested his hand on Fox’s shoulder, smiling at Coco. Velvet gave her a thumbs’ up, running her other hand up and down her ears, checking them for injury.

With a soft sigh, Coco slumped slightly and stumbled forward half a step, wrapping Fox in a tight hug. He clung back, and she felt a dampness on her side that had to be a fresh wound of his.

It bothered her she hadn’t noticed when she grabbed him.

“Fuck, I was worried,” hissed Coco. Her own aura had died an hour ago, which meant Fox’s had died before that, and Yatsu and Velvet had probably gone down not long after.

Coco pulled back from Fox to grab Yatsu and Velvet’s hands, squeezing them tightly. Yatsu and Velvet both grabbed one of Fox’s each, and the four bowed their heads together, close despite their height differences.

“We made it out,” said Velvet softly. “I can’t believe we all made it out.”

“I can,” said Coco. “That’s what we do, we survive.” Fox snorted, soft, and Coco rolled her eyes. Her blurry vision was starting to give her a headache, but she ignored it for now. Not like she couldn’t afford new glasses.

“I’m just glad we’re all alive,” said Velvet.

“Me too,” said Yatsu.

“Me three,” said coco. She looked at each one of them in turn. “That’s what’s important. We made it out, in one piece, even, and now, we can all go home.” She hesitated, unsure how to broach the topic of what ‘home’ meant for each of them in this context.

“I’m staying,” said Yatsu. Coco stared, Fox started, and Velvet let out a soft gasp. “Almost everyone is leaving, this city needs help. They need strength.” He looked at Coco, pleading in his eyes, “They need someone to take hits and beat back the Grimm.”

Because that was what it always came down to, wasn’t it? No matter how many times they told him that he was more than his strength, more than his sword, more than his muscles. It never changed.

Perhaps now it never would.

“I know,” said Coco, softly. She didn’t want to let him go. She wanted him to go somewhere safe. But gods, what even was safe, anymore? It had all gone to hell in an instant.

An android girl, ripped apart. Grimm, taking over the city.

Pyrrha Nikos was dead. She remembered seeing the rest of Team JNPR, sobbing, as they were led away, earlier. Jaune had been screaming at a man with greying hair and red eyes that Coco hadn’t recognized.

For a while, she’d wondered if Team CFVY would leave the same way.

“They also need someone with compassion, Yatsu. Something you excel in,” said Coco.

He looked away and squeezed Fox’s hand, saying nothing. Coco knew he didn’t believe her.

He never did. Not when he got like this.

“I’m going back to Mistral,” said Fox, in the silence that followed. His head tilted toward Velvet as she whimpered quietly. Their hands tightened together. “My parents will be worried about me, and I want to be home. If this _thing_ comes after another kingdom, I want to protect my people on my terms.” There was a firmness in his voice that didn’t often enter it.

There would be no changing his mind.

Coco nodded, more for Velvet and Yatsu than for Fox. “Okay,” she said. She took a breath, hating the shudder in it. She was supposed to be strong, but her strength had left her. “Okay.” She glanced at the ships. The docks were emptying now. They didn’t have much time. “Velvet?”

“I’m going back to Menagerie,” said Velvet, softly. “I miss my parents.” Her lip trembled and her ears drooped, sagging near her face. “If the White Fang really _is_ getting to be so awful, then I should see if their leader is aware and if…” She took a breath. “If their previous leader is as well.” She sniffled and took her hand from Coco’s to swipe at her eyes, whimpering again. Coco released Yatsu’s hand and wrapped Velvet up in a hug, letting her sniffle into her shoulder for a minute.

Coco met Yatsu’s gaze over Velvet’s shoulder, and Yatsu held fast to Fox.

“I’m going to Atlas,” said Coco. “My parents live there, and I know General Ironwood is going to go up against the Council for this.” She hesitated. She didn’t believe that General Ironwood had done this, but she wasn’t certain. She needed to speak with him before she made any decisions.

Besides, Weiss Schnee had been carted off by her father, back to Atlas, and Coco knew for a fact there was a reason that man gave her the creeps. Her mother had never liked him, claimed he was a gold digger, and her father said that he missed Willow Schnee for who she’d been before Jacques had gotten a hold of her.

“I want to be a witness, to help, and maybe,” said Coco, sighing, “maybe I can make sure Weiss doesn’t get trapped.” She cast a glance over her shoulder to the ships. There were shouts for last calls and final boarders. Two of the soldiers waved to her and her team, obviously signalling them.

Coco ignored them. She never wanted this moment to end.

She was almost certain there wouldn’t be another, no matter how much she wanted there to be.

“You should go,” said Yatsu, to the other three. He laid a hand on Coco’s shoulder. “We will be fine, Coco. We have been through worse before.” His words were firm, but his worry bled through into them. He, more than the rest, had reason to be worried. Coco knew that. They all knew that.

That didn’t make it any easier.

Velvet pulled away from Coco and latched onto Yatsu, squeezing him tightly before moving on to Fox. Coco took a moment to hug Yatsu, then stepped back to let Yatsu hug Fox, then the four of them grasped hands together.

“Remember our training,” said Coco, firmly. She looked at each of them separately, then the three together. “We can do this. We’ve been preparing for this. I have faith in all of you.” She took a deep breath and smiled at them, wavering but there. “See you on the other side.”

“We’ll be together again,” said Fox. His head tilted as he spoke, a firmness in his voice Coco didn’t often hear. “This isn’t the end of Team CFVY.”

He sounded sure. Coco wished she felt half as sure.

“It is not,” agreed Yatsu. “When we are done fighting our own battles, we will reunite for the war.”

Velvet frowned, ears still drooping, and said, “Do you really think this is a war?”

Coco sighed and all three of her teammates looked to her. “I do,” she said. “And I think it’s only just started.” She hesitated, then pushed forward. Fears be damned, this could be the last time she saw any of them, perhaps forever. “I love you – all of you.”

“Me too,” said Velvet, eyes watery.

“Agreed,” said Yatsu.

When Fox didn’t say anything, Coco said, “Fox?”

He smiled. “Of course,” he said. “Thought it went without saying.”

“I think now’s the time to say things we don’t usually say,” said Velvet. There was a slight dryness to her voice that made Coco crack a smile, despite everything.

Fox sighed. A shout for last calls went up again. A soldier was approaching. “Then how about this?” said Fox. “We’ll be together again, I know we will.” He tipped his head in the other direction, cracking a smile that seemed mostly teasing. “Aren’t rabbits supposed to be good luck?”

Velvet giggled. “We are,” she agreed.

“Hey, you kids coming? We need to go before the Nevermore gather again,” said the soldier.

Coco stepped forward and the others did as well, Yatsu murmuring to Fox so he got the picture. They clung to each other, wrapped up in limbs and warmth and quiet breathing.

This was it.

Then, they were pulling back, hesitating a moment longer, and it was time to go. Coco went to the last airship headed for Atlas, Velvet headed for the airship that would take her to a safe haven to catch a boat to Menagerie, and Fox was led by the soldier to the ship for Mistral.

As she boarded, Coco cast one last glance at Yatsu’s retreating form. He was alone, his sword slung over his back and his aura, a brilliant olive green, crackling across his shoulders as it returned to him.

Each of them was headed into a war zone, but Yatsu’s was more literal than the rest.

Whispering a prayer to each of her friends as the airship closed its doors, Coco went to take a seat on the ship.

School was over. The battle was lost. But the war had just begun – in Atlas, in Vale, in all of Remnant.

Now, it was simply a matter of doing what she could, and hoping that her friends did the same, and that each of them – Velvet, Fox, and Yatsu – survived so that she could see them again.

But that reunion would have to wait another day.

For now, it was time to say goodbye.


End file.
